THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 22, 1994 TAG: 9412220509
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
The coal collier K Prime sailed for South Africa early Wednesday morning without 11 crew members who jumped ship Monday, alleging abuse by the ship's officers.
The Indonesian seamen are staying at the International Seamen's Friend House in Newport News until arrangements can be made to send them home.
``I've never had it happen where a crew just left a ship,'' said Alice Reese Thomas, who has worked at the Seamen's House for 13 years and is now its executive director.
The crew members claim they were physically abused by the ship's Korean officers, that they weren't paid enough and that they weren't being fed properly, Thomas said.
The Panamanian-flagged K Prime arrived Monday at Dominion Terminal Associates coal terminal in Newport News to load coal destined for South Korea. The disgruntled seamen left the ship when it docked, requesting sanctuary at the Seamen's House.
The 11 crew members are so afraid of being punished if they return to the ship that they want to be repatriated back to Indonesia with their back wages, Thomassaid.
The ship's South Korean owners and the 11 seamen didn't reach a settlement in brief negotiations Tuesday, so the K Prime left the port with a reduced crew of nine Korean officers and three or four Indonesian seamen who chose to remain aboard.
Both the Coast Guard and Panama had to approve the vessel's departure with a reduced crew.
The ship's agent, Inchcape Shipping Services, is making arrangements to have the 11 crew members flown home at the expense of the ship's owners, said Scott A. Schubart, Inchcape's general manager of operations.
While it's not uncommon for seamen to complain to the Seamen's Friend House about conditions aboard a ship, such a mass desertion is rare.
``It's rather unusual for a crew to pile off a ship like that because they can't take it anymore,'' said Edd Morris, a ship inspector of the London-based International Transport Workers' Federation.
``This is something that shouldn't have happened,'' Morris said. ``It's an example of bad management. It's also an example of the kind of abuse of seamen that's still going on out there.''
The K Prime's disgruntled crew is the second ship's crew to seek the aid of the Seamen's Friend House recently.
The house already was providing aid to the crew of the Taxiarchis, a vessel that has been detained in Newport News for six months because of safety violations that its owners have not repaired. The Taxiarchis' crew is suing its owners and agent for back wages.
The Taxiarchis and its cargo of sugar are scheduled to be auctioned on the steps of the Norfolk federal courthouse Nov. 30 unless the ship's owners pay the crew. MEMO: The Journal of Commerce contributed to this report. by CNB